Stickers are a tried-and-true form of marketing, though the digital advertising revolution did take the shine off them for a while. You know, that very short period when certain marketers swore that all marketing should be done online and traditional approaches were passé.

Companies are wising up, though, as they’ve realized just how well stickers work for marketing purposes, whether they’re looking to increase brand awareness, build customer loyalty, or even to support your digital marketing efforts. Especially seeing as the digital world is full of ads and people are becoming just as ad blind online as they are in the physical world.

Below we’ll look at why they work so well and a few ways in which free sticker giveaways can support your marketing strategy.

Discover Why Sticker Marketing Works So Well

Sticker marketing works extremely well for a number of reasons, including perception, simplicity, endorsement, and more.

Stickers and Perception

We know that consumers are sick to death of all sorts of advertising and marketing ploys. While many companies have understood the message, there are still plenty who engage in old school hype tactics that consumers despise. So, it shouldn’t be a surprise that people become resistant and often hostile when faced with advertising, which makes selling to them that much harder.

Conversely, stickers aren’t considered part of the same category. Even if you get die cut stickers printed with just your logo and nothing else, making it an obvious ad, people won’t be as resistant when you give it to them. Far from it.

Instead, they will appreciate the gift, because that’s exactly how they will perceive it: as a gift. Thus, inhibitions and barriers are lowered, making them much more receptive to your message.

Stickers Are Simple

The message is always simple on stickers. The limited real estate means that you can’t include a ton of text, which consumers love. They don’t want to read an entire treatise on your company. Even flyers often include too much information.

Conversely, consumers will definitely appreciate a die-cut sticker with an awesome design and a simple message. Not only will they like it, but retention is also better.

Stickers Act As Endorsements

People display stickers they like on their personal belongings. When someone else sees the sticker, they automatically know that the person in question supports the brand, which means it’s a form of word-of-mouth slash display advertising. After all, if you are displeased with a brand, you aren’t going to put their sticker on your laptop, for example.

This form of word-of-mouth advertising is even more powerful because many more people will actually see the sticker. A customer may or may not refer their friends and family to your brand, and it tends to happen most often when they are asked for a recommendation.

With stickers though, they don’t have to put in any effort in advertising your business. Everyone can see they endorse and support your brand. And many more people will see that sticker compared to the number of people you can expect someone to tell about their awesome experience with your company.

Stickers Are Cost-Effective

Stickers are cost-effective, yet their perceived value is much greater. A consumer won’t think that it might have cost only a few nickels to print a sticker – even less for larger volumes – and throw it out. They are usually too pleased to receive a sticker to even think of assigning a monetary value, which makes stickers that much more powerful.

How Free Sticker Giveaways Can Support Your Marketing Strategy

There are a slew of ways in which you can use free sticker giveaways to support your marketing strategy. The key to success is to establish your objective, based on which you can devise an effective sticker marketing approach.

Increase Brand Awareness

If you want to increase brand awareness, the easiest way is to use multiple distribution channels. You can work with complementary businesses and ask them to display your stickers at the counter, for example.

You can hire people to distribute them (or work with a specialized distribution company), or you can stand in busy areas and hand them out yourself.

The key is to make sure the sticker is attractive and interesting enough to get people to display it on their personal belongings but also to learn more about your brand.

Build Customer Loyalty

Sending out free stickers to your customers is a great way to build loyalty. Of course, you should include a few stickers with every order they place, but you can also send them at important times throughout the year.

For example, sending out Christmas stickers with your logo during the holidays is a great option, as is sending them a special sticker on their birthday. The cost is minimal but the return on investment will be substantial.

Increase Customer Engagement

You can also significantly improve customer engagement using stickers. Organize a contest where people have to collect stickers and once the collection is complete, they receive a small prize. The prize can be symbolic – even another sticker – but it will raise brand awareness as people talk and exchange stickers in an attempt to complete their collection.

And engaged customers will constantly be talking about your brand, both online and offline. This will not only lead to high customer loyalty but will also help to improve brand exposure. It will also be in a way that makes it clear to prospects that these people all endorse your brand, rather than through more traditional advertising approaches.

Sticker marketing is highly effective. It works because of how consumers perceive stickers – as something valuable rather than a marketing ploy – but also because people love stickers so much, it’s difficult to claim someone is overwhelmed by receiving too many stickers.

Free sticker giveaways are even more effective because you are making your customers and prospects feel special. You’re going out of your way to do something nice for them, and people will automatically want to repay you for such a great experience, usually by making sure they give you their business.